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Anéla-AVT PhD Dissertation Prize▲

Every year, the Dutch Linguistic Society (AVT), the Dutch Society for Applied Linguistics (Anéla) invite an independent jury to select the best linguistic PhD dissertation that was defended at a Dutch university in the past year. In recent years, the prize winner has been announced at the festive Language Gala (part of the Dutch Annual Linguistics Day [Grote Taaldag]).

The AVT/Anéla PhD Dissertation Prize will be awarded again this year. All dissertations defended between 16 July 2025 and 15 July 2026 are eligible for the 2026 AVT/Anéla PhD Dissertation Prize.

The secretaries of the jury are Dr Remco Knooihuizen (on behalf of the AVT board) and Dr Gudrun Reijnierse (on behalf of the Anéla board). The regulations can be found here (in Dutch): Regulations for the AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize 2026.

For further information, please contact Remco (r.m.knooihuizen[at]rug.nl) or Gudrun (w.g.reijnierse[at]vu.nl).

Nominations for candidates for the prize may be submitted by 15 August 2025 at the latest via this link: AVT/ANéLA Dissertation Prize 2026

Winner AVT/Anéla PhD dissertation prize 2025

The Anéla/AVT dissertation prize is awarded annually to the author of the best linguistic dissertation defended at a Dutch university in the past year. This year (2025) the prize was awarded to Gijs Leenders for his dissertation about language awareness in Dutch, English and German in secondary education.

Gijs Leenders’ dissertation about language awareness in Dutch, English and German in secondary education is a very well-executed study. The jury was impressed by the diversity of research methods employed and the excellent coherence of the different parts of the thesis. They also appreciated the fact that all insights have also been published in popular science teacher outlets and that classroom materials are openly accessible for reuse. The jury specifically complimented Gijs on his very engaging, highly accessible style of writing.

The full jury report can be found here: Jury report AVT Anéla PhD dissertation prize 2025

This year’s jury consisted of Jacomine Nortier, Marije Michel, Joyce Lamerichs, Gert-Jan Schoenmakers, and Constantijn Kaland. The three shortlisted PhD thesis were:

  • Gijs Leenders: Bewuste taalvaardigheid ontleed. Onderzoek naar contextrijk, taalcontrastief en procesgericht grammaticaonderwijs in de vakken Nederlands, Engels en Duits (pdf)
  • Robert Prettner: Shots at stake. Facilitating interactions between professionals and parents about childhood vaccination (pdf)
  • Giulio Severijnen: A blessing in disguise: How prosodic variability challenges but also aids successful speech perception (pdf)

The prize was awarded during the festive Language Gala at the end of the Grote Taaldag on 27 January 2026 in Utrecht.

 

Previous winners PhD Dissertation Award

  • 2024: Gosse Minnema, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Perspective matters: event framing in language and society
  • 2023: Suzanne Bogaerds-Hazenberg, Universiteit Utrecht, Text structure instruction in Dutch primary education: Building bridges between research and practice
  • 2022: Alex Reuneker, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Connecting conditionals: a corpus-based approach to conditional constructions in Dutch
  • 2021: Ulrika Klomp, Universiteit van Amsterdam, A descriptive grammar of Sign Language of the Netherlands
  • 2020: Imme Lammertink, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Detecting Patterns: Relating statistical learning to language proficiency in children with and without developmental language disorder.
  • 2019: Luis Miguel Rojas Berscia, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, From Kawapanan to Shawi: Topics in language variation and change.
  • 2018: Tessel Boerma, Universiteit Utrecht, Profiles and paths. Effects of language impairment and bilingualism on children’s linguistic and cognitive development.
  • 2017: Kobie van Krieken, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Linguistic viewpoint in crime news narratives: Form, function and impact.
  • 2016: Barend Beekhuizen, Universiteit Leiden, Constructions Emerging: A usage-based approach of the acquisition of grammar.
  • 2015: Koen Sebregts, Universiteit Utrecht, The Sociophonetics and Phonology of Dutch r.
  • 2014: Hans Rutger Bosker, Universiteit Utrecht, The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and nonnative speech.
  • 2013: Titia Benders, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Nature’s distributional learning experiment: infants’ input, infants’ perception and computational modelling.
  • 2012: Mark Dingemanse, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Meaning and Use of Ideophones in Siwu.
  • 2011: Sander Lestrade, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The space of case.
  • 2010: Anna Kijak, Universiteit Utrecht, How stressful is L2 stress? A cross-linguistic study of L2 perception and production of metrical systems.
  • 2009: Margot Rozendaal, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The acquisition of reference: A cross-linguistic study.
  • 2008: Brigitte Pakendorf, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Contact in the Prehistory of the Sakha (Yakuts). Linguistic and genetic perspectives.
  • 2007: Tamás Bíró (Universiteit Groningen), Finding the Right Words: Implementing Optimality Theory with Simulated Annealing.
  • 2006: Sonja van Boxtel: Can the late bird catch the worm? Ultimate attainment in L2 syntax, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2005.
  • 2005: Bert Botma: Phonological Aspects of Nasality: An element-based dependency approach. Amsterdam, 2004.
  • 2004: Elma Blom: From root infinitive to finite sentence. The acquisition of verbal inflections and auxiliaries. Utrecht, 2003.
  • 2003:  Dirk-Bart den Ouden: Phonological encoding deficiencies in conduction Aphasia; Groningen, 2002
  • 2002: Onno Crasborn, Phonetic Implementation of Phonological Categories in Sign Language of the Netherlands. Leiden, 2001.
  • 2001: Ineke van de Craats, Conservation in the acquisition of possessive constructions: a study of second language acquisition by Turkish and Moroccan learners of Dutch; Tilburg, 2000.
  • 2000: Joost Dekkers, Derivations & Evaluations: on the syntax of subjects and complementizers . Amsterdam,1999.
  • 1999: Jürgen Bohnemeyer: Time relations in discourse. Evidence from a comparative approach to Yukatek Maya. Tilburg 1998.
  • 1998: Anastasia Giannakidou: The landscape of polarity items . Groningen 1997.
  • 1997: Ad Backus: Two in one: bilingual speech of Turkish immigrants in The Netherlands. Tilburg 1996.
  • 1996: Marc van Oostendorp: Vowel quality and phonological projection. Tilburg 1995.
  • 1995: Paula Fikkert: On the acquisition of prosodic structure. Leiden 1994.
  • 1994: Jan-Wouter Zwart: Dutch syntax: A minimalist approach. Groningen 1993.